


How did you think I got here?

by eak_a_mouse



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Character Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-05
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 14:22:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eak_a_mouse/pseuds/eak_a_mouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She learns to outwork, outmatch, outdrink the boys club. </p>
<p>No wait, she’s been learning how to do that since she understood the difference between boys and girls.</p>
<p>She’s just finally proving that she can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How did you think I got here?

The first time she meets Harvey Specter, it’s in her office.

Isn’t that how all stories about lawyers start?

Only Harvey isn’t a lawyer yet, not an associate, not a law student. He’s one of many in the mailroom, not even a footnote in the history of the firm. 

She wants it to be known that she did not take pity on him.  
No, she saw an opportunity. This is what makes her brilliant.

When Harvey was at Harvard (isn’t that a mouthful?), she was picking her way up the corporate ladder in stilettos. She collects staplers in her desk drawer. 

She learns to outwork, outmatch, outdrink the boys club. 

No wait, she’s been learning how to do that since she understood the difference between boys and girls. When was that? Age seven when a boy can pull her hair, but when she punches him in return it’s a problem? Age four when boys play outside while she wears dresses? Age less than one when her parents dress her only in pink and flowers? 

She’s just finally proving that she can.

And then Harvey comes back, and she has a man in her corner. She trusts him to watch her back, and people forget she watches his. No, people forget that she’s better than he is, that he is hers in all the ways that matter, not because she gave him all he has, but because she showed him how to fool the world. How to gain power and keep it and make it all look easy. 

Trying too hard is a weakness, darling. Too desperate, too grasping and everything you seek to hold slips right through your fingers. 

Hardman calls Harvey her attack dog that’s slipped the leash, and she coldly wonders what world he’s been living in these past five years. Don’t they all work like dogs for the firm, fighting like dogs on their cases and with each other? There’s no leash, there’s never been a leash. 

And if Harvey’s a dog, well, she’s always been a bitch. 

The people scared of Harvey?

They should be terrified of her.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted to my tumblr. Concrit is welcome. Unbetaed.


End file.
